Gaignun Kukai Jr.
Gaignun Kukai Jr, original and former name Rubedo, is a director of the Kukai Foundation, an organization based on Second Miltia. He appears to be a child, and is thought by the public to be the son of his fellow director, Gaignun Kukai (thus his alias, Gaignun Kukai Jr.). However, he is actually Gaignun's older brother. Personality While Jr. looks like a child, and can act rashly, he is also capable of making tough decisions and cutting observations. He also has a fondness for guns, action movies, and classic novels, including Robinson Crusoe, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Because of his hobbies Jr. is a master of gunplay, especially with pistols and enjoys fighting akimbo. At the beginning of Xenosaga Episode I, Rubedo, using the name Jr., carries a pair of Rook Company pistols. However later, and in Episode II he wields two antique Makarov pistols, they are mistranslated as "Makalov" in the English version likely due to the lack of the "r" in Japanese. The Makarov was originally a soviet built pistol, taken from designs acquired from the Third Reich at the end of World War II. The Makarov is a 9x18mm caliber. Background Childhood Rubedo was a survivor of the U.R.T.V. (U-DO Retro Virus) unit created by the scientist Dmitri Yuriev to combat U-DO, a mysterious waveform that threatened to destroy the galaxy. Rubedo's unit number as a U.R.T.V. was 666. He possesses the unique abilities of all U.R.T.V.s, including telepathy and various telekinetic powers. However, despite being a "designer child," he was born with his twin brother, Albedo Piazzolla, attached to him through the heart. This problem that was remedied when they were separated, though Rubedo could still sense Albedo's heartbeat. He is the strongest U.R.T.V., vessel to a power none of the others possess—including the other variants—and reputed to have the one perfect anti-U-DO wavelength, and was therefore made their leader. Although to date he hardly uses his unique powers compared to his living brothers instead preferring to fight with his guns or machines, Albedo states that Rubedo is weaker than he was before either indicating a lax in training or that he himself has become much stronger. A bit of both but more the former. Rubedo, while his formerly conjoined twin brother was called Albedo, U.R.T.V. #667. The last brother was Nigredo, who later became known as Gaignun Kukai. Juli Mizrahi requested Rubedo to dive into Sakura's subconscious domain and clear the U.M.N. and U-DO pulses that seemed to resonate within her mind. The boys made a mistake with their coordinates and ended up materializing in her closet. After breaking down the closet door because Albedo became frightened of the dark, the three stumbled into her bedroom and woke Sakura, a projection of inner self that could respond to them and talk. When Rubedo tried to push his brothers back into the closet so they could leave and reenter her consciousness correctly, she spoke, surprising the trio and herself as they could hear her voice, and began to cry of joy. She and the boys talked for a short while, and she told Rubedo to tell her mother, who could not dive into her daughter's consciousness, that she loved her, and the boys left. It was during these tests that Sakura met Rubedo and fell in love with him. Sakura is one of Rubedo's deepest personal connections. Militan Conflict During the Miltian Conflict, Rubedo and the other URTVs fought against U-DO before the planet’s disappearance into the void. As leader of the URTVs, Rubedo was responsible for keeping them connected through a spiritual link, which would protect them from U-DO’s destructive powers. A moment before the U.R.T.V.s were to destroy U-DO, Rubedo had a vision of the Old Miltian planet being destroyed when something monstrous emerged from within. Rubedo, fearing for the lives of his companions, broke the Spiritual Link leaving the other URTVs with no protection against U-DO. U-DO slew or drove mad all of the standard U.R.T.V.s, as well as Albedo during the fighting, Rubedo carried an injured Nigredo several minutes before Canaan and chaos rescued the U.R.T.V. duo on the E.S. Asher. Therefore, the only documented surviving U.R.T.V.s were Nigredo and Rubedo, though Albedo survived as well. In the original version of Soraya Saga's EPISODE II script U.R.T.V. #668 Citrine survived the Miltian Conflict as well, but she was edited out of the final version of the game. Xenosaga Episode I TO BE WRITTEN. Xenosaga Episode II TO BE WRITTEN. Xenosaga Episode III TO BE WRITTEN Influences In Alchemy, the four key processes are named Rubeus (red), Negreus (black), Albeus (white), and Citrineus (yellow) or heating, blackening, reducing to ash, and washing. Rubedo, Negredo, Albiedo, and Citrine are noun forms of those verbs. The name "Rubedo" refers to the philosophic beliefs of Karl Jung (taken from alchemical texts), who believed that the process of self-realization has three major steps, which he named using terms derived from alchemy, which he studied prior to developing his theories. These three steps are known as Negredo, the death of the old, perceived self, Albedo, the discovering of one’s inner identity, and Rubedo, the process of living a self-aware life. Incidentally, Rubeus Hagrid, Albus Dumbledore, and Sirius Black from the Harry Potter fictional universe are named for the same processes, where Sirius and Albus both die and Hagrid lives. 666 is the number of the Beast (also called the Anti-Christ), a seven-headed emissary of the Devil in the Book of Revelation and alongside his power of the Red Dragon Jr. is set up as a demonic character superficially but lacks any such personality traits. However, the comparison to the anti-christ is fitting considering he was designed to produce the anti-wave of U-DO, a god. Trivia *As stated by the developers, Jr. was supposed to be physically mature in Episode II before the final version of the script was produced. Gallery Jr2Ver2.jpg|''Episode II'' model Jr2Conceptg.jpg|''Episode II'' concept art. Jr0.png|''Episode II'' art. Jr3Concept.jpg|''Episode III'' concept art. JrViewer.jpg|''Episode III'' model. JrURTV.jpg|Jr. in his U.R.T.V. uniform. JrSwimsuit.jpg|Jr. in his Episode III swimsuit. xenosaga88118.png|''Xenosaga I & II'' Alby.jpg|Jr. and Alby. RuSa.png|Rubedo and Sakura. Category:Characters Category:Male characters Category:Playable characters Category:U.R.T.V. units